Sandwiched between the overlying educational philosophy and the framework for learning design lie the design principles. These are likely to be very similar across all of our design contexts, particularly if you are designing within formal tertiary institutions and in the Occidental world.
Having these principles, debated and discussed by design teams and teaching faculty, provides another level of coherence that ultimately serves faculty and students well. The attached PDF is one interpretation of the 10 ‘top-level’ Principles. This is my personal interpretation of a distance learning institution. I can imagine there would be some slight variation in a vocational context or a highly specialised discipline.
As you read through them, and particularly the sub-headings in the PDF, ask yourself when you would ever amend any of them to say “We don’t design ...”
We design for constructive alignment
We design to harness authoritative voices
We design culturally responsive learning
We design for the learner’s context
We design for digital futures
We design applied learning
We design for learner autonomy
We design with a view to the evolving nature of work
We design to enable academic and learner analytics
We design for renewal and reuse
Each Principle requires a little contextualisation for your institution, discipline, programme expectations and learning strategy. I am always happy to facilitate that discussion with you.
